Class gets a lesson in cancer

Spirits high as Buchanan 6-year-old battles disease.

Spirits high as Buchanan 6-year-old battles disease.

May 16, 2008|LOU MUMFORD Tribune columnist

BUCHANAN -- It's a tough lesson, and kindergarten students in a classroom at Buchanan's Moccasin Elementary School have been receiving it in daily doses this past school year. They know, from 6-year-old classmate Zachary Combs' bald head and the tube implanted in his chest, that cancer isn't just something that happens to adults. They know, too, from the many days Zachary has been absent, that it's not a disease that's easily dispatched. "I don't know if it's the circumstance that made him popular or what but Zach has brought a lot of awareness to the classroom," said Terri Deja, Zach's teacher at Moccasin. "The kids say, 'My grandma had cancer' or 'My aunt had cancer,' but never anyone their own age." The disease showed up initially in October 2006, when Zachary complained of a stomach ache and tests revealed a tumor the size of a grapefruit attached to his left kidney. Two hours of surgery eliminated the tumor and, doctors believed, the cancer, but additional tests the following July detected it in Zachary's lymph nodes. From there, the cells spread to his bone marrow, back, spine, both legs and arm, said Zachary's mother, Amy Backus. Diagnosed as neuroblastoma, the third most common cancer in children, the disease has stood up to 16 rounds of chemotherapy, aggressive radiation treatments and an unsuccessful stem cell transplant, she said. Now, it's in its fourth stage, and Zachary will battle it once more when he begins an experimental treatment Monday at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor. "They tell us (Backus and Christopher Combs, Zachary's father) there is no cure," Backus said. Despite the prognosis, Zachary's spirits remain as high as those normally found in a 6-year-old, she said. "Once in a great while, he'll have a bad day and be down for a while," she said. "But if it wasn't for his bald head you'd never know he was sick." His strength was evident, she said, when Zachary developed mouth sores so painful that doctors routinely include morphine in their treatment. Yet Zachary battled through the sores and was administered the powerful painkiller for only a week, Backus said. "The doctor was impressed. He said he was a strong little boy," she recalled. She said Zachary enjoys school but, because of his illness, has been able to attend just 26 sessions since his class started in September. He'd enjoy a go-kart as well, she said, and in fact is slated to get one at no cost in July through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Backus said the only stipulation is that he complete before then a certified off-the-road vehicle safety class. She asked that anyone who knows where she can sign Zachary up for such a class contact her at (269) 240-6738. Another of Zachary's wishes was to meet Larry the Cable Guy, or Dan Whitney as he's known off stage. But Zachary was hospitalized when the opportunity to meet Whitney arose.